Spark Joy

Book Trailer

Spark Joy Book Trailer is an advertising video created to promote the book Spark Joy by the Japanese tidying master Marie Kondo. It showcases the transformative power of the book that helps unclutter people’s spaces physically and mentally. It uses visual metaphors to embodies the ideas and impacts of the book without spoiling the actual contents.

Time-Based Design,
Motion Graphics

Storyboarding,
Time-Based Production,
Motion Design

Overview

This is a book trailer designed for the book of organizing and tidying up, Spark Joy, by Marie Kondo. This project aims to attract potential readers who suffer from a cluttered living space or those that are interested in improving their living style by organizing and tidying up, through a 44 seconds' video. 

Concept

The key idea of the book is that living spaces affect people's lives physically and mentally. A messy and packed place does not only create clutter, but it also brings anxiety and burden to its owners. Spark Joy suggests people go through everything they own and only keep what "spark joy" to them, and discard those that don't.

The concept of the project is to divide the message from the book into three progressive stages: the Clutter, the Change, and the Declutter. The transformation is represented with a set of objects.

1. In the Clutter stage, the accumulation of clutter in space and the anxiety caused by the mess escalate as it gets more and more stressful visually and acoustically. The connection of the space and the state of mind is shown with the combination of visuals and music.   
( ↓ brainstorm on ways to showcase physical clutter and mental clutter)

2. For the Change stage, motion graphics are applied to show the key idea of decision making on what "spark joy." I thought of using framing, icons, and swiping effects to represent the process.
( ↓ brainstorm on the potential representation of decision making)

3. In the Declutter stage, the objects are placed nice and neat and the space is now tidy and aesthetically pleasing, which indicates the improved living environment and living style as a result of adopting the methods from the book.

Rough Cut 1

On the early attempt, the escalation of clutter and the mental stress are presented with the accumulation of objects and the toppling books and falling cookies.

Rough Cut 2

An attempt on motion graphics to show the decision making process.

Final Outcome

The final production of the Clutter stage is presented with a series of accumulating objects which ultimately collapse and become a mess, with the distressing noise in the background.

The Change stage is presented with motion graphics mimicking the swiping feature in Tinder, which is a fun reference that can relate to a lot of our young urban audience. 

The Declutter stage is presented with a scene in which each object that "sparks joy“ and that is decided to be kept are placed gently on the table. The final shot shows a tidy and visually pleasing set and the final words show up, "Enjoy a Tidy Life."